Jiaolong divers find new deep-sea organisms, break them

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2015-01-15

Organisms collected by the Jiaolong scientists in the Indian Ocean,
Jan. 11. (Photo/Xinhua)

China's manned deep sea submersible Jiaolong collected 17 samples of deep-sea organisms from the seabed of the southwestern Indian Ocean on Wednesday, of which two were unknown to scientists aboard the vessel.

With a size similar to a regular sea cucumber, the first mysterious creature broke into three parts when it was taken to the vessel.

Since the organism was transparent, scientists could see its blue and brown viscera clearly.

"This might be a special kind of sea cucumber, but we need to make sure after further analysis in labs," said Lu Bo, a scientist with the Second Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration.

Looking like a small pink snake, the second strange creature, 330 centimeters long and three centimeters wide, was completely unknown to the scientists. Two bubbles appeared in its body due to pressure change, said the scientists.

"These two organisms might be new species but we can't be certain with limited tools and data on the ship," Lu Bo said.

Additionally, the Jiaolong gathered 15 deep-sea shrimps, water and sulfide weighing 6.9 kilograms.

The Jiaolong, which made a dive of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012, is on a 120-day expedition to study polymetallic sulfide, biological diversity, hydrothermal microbes and genetic resources in the southwest Indian Ocean.

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